Junto Project 0374: Glitch Glitch [repost]

Someone suggested that Suss Müsik repost our contributions to the weekly Disquiet Junto projects, because they enjoy reading the explanations of the tracks. While you’re reading the original post, make sure you check out the other contributors’ works as well.

Glitch can be interpreted as a form of deception. Technological malfunctions impede the transference of accurate or complete information, akin to how human being lie in order to shroud an unpleasant truth.

A double-glitch is akin to a poignant human arrangement in which two people willingly deceive one another, relinquishing any semblance of trust in order to achieve mutual recognition. “Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,” wrote Shakespeare in Sonnet 138. “And in our faults by lies we flattered be.”

Suss Müsik mourned the loss of Mark Hollis this week. Even during Talk Talk’s relatively commercial phase as a viable mid-1980’s synth-pop band, one can hear undercurrents of instrumental distress. Listen to the guitar on “Life’s What You Make It,” for example. A friend of Suss Müsik described the guitar tone as sounding like “it doesn’t even want to be there,” which brings to mind the uneasy relationship that musicians sometimes have with their instruments.

For this weird piece, Suss Müsik sought to explore the dynamic between humans and musical instruments in the form of glitch mechanics. A simple acoustic guitar phrase was played live and recorded to disk. The digital output was spliced and reassembled as a loop. The loop was then passed through an Infinite Jets re-synthesizer and re-recorded live to 8-track.

The piece is titled Sissela, named after the Swedish author and ethicist Sissela Bok. In addition to writing the bookLying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, Ms. Bok won a Nobel Peace Prize the same year Talk Talk’s debut album was released.